Buy Roundup Now!

Better value exists from generic glyphosate

It's much cheaper to buy this sort of thing:

Is there any argument in for the return of sodium chlorate? Sodium chlorate degrades to sodium chloride (salt), which is relatively harmless. It is also more effective. I assume it is better for the environment but worse for humans but we substituted propane and butane (which are highly flammable) for CFCs in aerosols in the interests of the environment.

Dunno, Dad told the tale of how he obtained some from "a friend" who worked on the railway, and used it on an aunt's garden ... supposedly nothing grew there for years.

It was banned by the EU in 2009. I had assumed it was because it was possible, with a bit of effort, to remove the fire-depressant and therefore it became a possible source of an explosive. However, it seems to be that it was banned because it could be toxic, and no safe level was established. Its supply after being banned is taken as a serious infringement of the law:

Yes, but of course glyphosate is considered by some to be toxic and harmful to the environment. My question was: on the scale of balance, which is the more toxic? I don't think anyone is suggesting it should be illegal to kill weeds :-)

Indeed. It is pure 'scorched earth' strategy. Some for my gravel drive would be massively useful

Yet...

"They're just plants that aren't in the place you want them to be. They've got just as much right to live as your dahlias."

There are minor victories, but I don't think we've hit peak insanity yet.

Oh, but there /is/ a suggestion that it should be illegal to kill weeds

- at least in public areas. For example,

I think we can confidently expect 'small pox viruses have a right to life, and should be re-wilded' soon enough

Guess what this is.

"Serious toxicity occurs when [redacted] is ingested in large amounts (5 mL/kg in children, 150–200 mL in adults) or at concentrations more than

Hint: It isn't banned. It's available in every supermarket.

Actually, no. Not when it's Japanese knotweed. Never having heard of the plant before, I caused one to be rotovated in a bed. I then read about it (this was

Yes. There was a patch that mysteriously appeared on a small triangle of land between a drainage ditch, the road, and a farmers field.

He tried mowing it, but it was back a metre r tall every year, then he started glyphosating it. He's an arable farmer and glyphosate is an ideal way to kill he wheat so its all dried up at harvest time*. But I digress.

I think it was at least 4 years before it all went.

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  "In cereals, glyphosate applications can reduce green material, including immature tillers, and improve harvest efficiency and grain storage. This can be particularly valuable in wet seasons. Glyphosate residues are occasionally found in samples. Although these residues have been well below Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs), they require careful management."

So much for banning glyphosate...

Aspirin

The hypernatremia and hyperchloremia suggest sodium and chloride, but with the dosage in mL it suggests a liquid - perhaps bleach.

Nope.

You are a very smart man sir! It is in fact sodium hypochlorite, or household bleach. Which can be boiled to make sodium chlorate. Something I have yet to try

I know what it is!

I drank some when I was very young, I can still remember the taste and the amount of honking up.

Yes. hypernatremia and hyperchloremia combined with corrosive properties - sodium hypochlorite, sold as bleach and Milton. John